ACCLAIMED critic, poet and essayist Dr Wazir Agha has more than fifty books to his credit, while his poetry has been translated into more than ten foreign languages. Like most other people, Wazir started watching movies in his student days. Though he does not remember the name of most of the movies he watched initially, some movies, like Milan and Bandhan, he still remembers with fondness.
“I love to watch movies based on novels. But some times the film is not up to the standard, as is the case with The Lost Horizon, a film based on the novel of James Hilton. But on the other hand, the movie, The Old Man and the Sea, based on the novel of Ernest Hemingway, is my all time favourite. The tussle shown in the film between the old man, Santiago, the sea and the fish is splendid. The sea does not want to lose its inhabitant, while the old man intends to stamp his supremacy over the limitless sea. It is a treat to watch,” says Wazir.
Another film that continues to capture his attention is Devdas. He also saw its recent version and particularly liked the acting of Shahrukh Khan. Besides, he avidly watches art movies and a Bollywood movie, Junoon, ranks high on his list of favourites. “Junoon is based on the War of Independence of 1857 and it does full justice to the theme. Shabana Azmi and Shashi Kapoor have acted wonderfully well in it,” asserts the octogenarian writer.
Says he, “Modern man’s animal instincts are responsible for his incessant interest in producing movies packed with horrendous bloodletting. We have turned the villain into hero due to our sheer ignorance.”
With advancing years, Wazir finds very few movies worth watching, but he still finds time to watch documentaries, especially those shown by the National Geographic Channel.
When it comes to music, he loves folk, and his choice in this regard has not changed a bit in years. “In our days, film music and classical music used to go hand in hand. Sehgal did the role of Tansen in the film of the same title, and as a result the film was excellent to watch. But this tradition is no more extant now,” regrets Wazir.
He is all praise for the legendary Noor Jehan, and says that her voice remained fresh till the very end. Another singer whose songs he listens to raptly is the renowned Mehdi Hasan. But, interestingly, his most favourite songs have not been sung by either of them. “Josh Malihabadi wrote the songs of the film Mann Ki Jeet, and Veena had sung them. These songs are unique in all respects and that is the reason I still look forward to listening to them even after all these years,” explains Wazir with a hint of nostalgia in his voice. As would be expected, Wazir delivers an emphatic ‘no’ at the very mention of pop music!
Bookworm is an apt description of Wazir, who had picked up the habit quite early in life. In his college days, an anthology of English poetry, Bridges of Songs remained his favourite, and was instrumental in encouraging the poet in him, as Wazir was soon composing poetry in English and Urdu while still at college.
Though he reads all types of books, his favoured areas are post-structuralism, anthropology, biology, physics, mysticism, psychology and philosophy.
One book that continues to remain his favourite is a novel, The Lost Horizon, by James Hilton. “It is basically about suspension of time, but it has an inimitable poetical touch as well. Besides, the imagination of the writer and the story are both spectacular.”
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, also appealed to him greatly, and so did Youth by Nobel laureate J.M Coetzee, and the God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.
FAVOURITE FILM: The Old Man and the Sea
FAVOURITE MUSIC: All the songs of film Mann Ki Jeet
ACCLAIMED critic, poet and essayist Dr Wazir Agha has more than fifty books to his credit, while his poetry has been translated into more than ten foreign languages. Like most other people, Wazir started watching movies in his student days. Though he does not remember the name of most of the movies he watched initially, some movies, like Milan and Bandhan, he still remembers with fondness.
